The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward in its search for Ruja Ignatova, the so-called “Cryptoqueen” who allegedly helped defraud investors out of $4 billion with a cryptocurrency scam. Ignatova was added to the FBI’s list of the 10 most-wanted fugitives this week.
The FBI is asking for any information about the alleged fraudster, who disappeared in 2017. Ignatova is believed to travel with armed guards and may have had plastic surgery to alter her appearance, per the FBI.
The Washington Post reports:
OneCoin relied on its users to bring in more participants by offering a slew of rewards, commissions and “trading packages” at different price points, according to federal investigators. In the end, the network of investors spanned over a hundred countries.
More than 3 million people are believed to have been duped, Williams, the prosecutor, said Thursday. Ignatova “appealed to people’s humanity, promising that OneCoin would transform the lives of unbanked people,” the FBI said.
“And she timed her scheme, perfectly capitalizing on the frenzied speculation in the early days of cryptocurrency.” The plan, however, was to “take the money and run and blame someone else for this,” Ignatova wrote to a co-founder in 2014, according to court documents.
